The largest flying reptile from Gondwana: a new specimen of Tropeognathus cf. T. mesembrinusWellnhofer, 1987 (Pterodactyloidea, Anhangueridae) and other large pterosaurs from the Romualdo Formation, Lower Cretaceous, Brazil

2013/03/01 by Alexander W. A. Kellner, Diógenes de Almeida Campos, Juliana Manso Sayão +7 · 126 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Amphibian and Reptile Biology #Wingspan #Gondwana #Paleontology #Cretaceous #Geology #Coracoid #Wing #Structural basin #Physics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1590/s0001-37652013000100009

published in Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 85(1), 113-135 (Brazilian Academy of Sciences)

openalex publication_date 2013/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

A very large pterosaur (MN 6594-V) from the Romualdo Formation (Aptian/Albian), Santana Group, Araripe Basin, is described. The specimen is referred to Tropeognathus cf. T. mesembrinus mainly due to the presence of a low and blunt frontoparietal crest, the comparatively low number of teeth and the inclined dorsal part of the occipital region. Two distinct wingspan measurements for pterosaurs are introduced: the maximized wingspan (maxws), which essentially consists of doubling the addition of all wing elements and the length of the scapula or the coracoid (the smaller of the two), and the normal wingspan (nws), which applies a reducing factor (rfc) to the maximized wingspan to account for the natural flexures of the wing. The rfc suggested for pteranodontoids is 5%. In the case of MN 6594-V, the maxws and nws are 8.70 m and 8.26 m, respectively, making it the largest pterosaur recovered from Gondwana so far. The distal end of a larger humerus (MCT 1838-R) and a partial wing (MPSC R 1395) are also described showing that large to giant flying reptiles formed a significant part of the pterosaur fauna from the Romualdo Formation. Lastly, some comments on the nomenclatural stability of the Santana deposits are presented.

Citations

• A Reappraisal of Azhdarchid Pterosaur Functional Morphology and Paleoecology
• Pterosaur phylogeny and comments on the evolutionary history of the group
• On the Size and Flight Diversity of Giant Pterosaurs, the Use of Birds as Pterosaur Analogues and Comments on Pterosaur Flightlessness
• The Function of the Cranial Crest and Jaws of a Unique Pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil
• Ammonite biostratigraphy as a tool for dating Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones from South Germany first results and open questions
• First record ofColoborhynchus (Pterosauria) from the Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Chapada do Araripe, Brazil
• The world’s largest toothed pterosaur, NHMUK R481, an incomplete rostrum of Coloborhynchus capito (Seeley, 1870) from the Cambridge Greensand of England
• The age of the Cretaceous Santana Formation fossil Konservat Lagerstätte of north-east Brazil: a historical review and an appraisal of the biochronostratigraphic utility of its palaeobiota
• A new azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous phosphates of Morocco
• A new species of Tupuxuara (Thalassodromidae, Azhdarchoidea) from the Lower Cretaceous Santana Formation of Brazil, with a note on the nomenclature of Thalassodromidae
• Comments on the Pteranodontidae (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) with the description of two new species
• New specimens of Pterosauria (Reptilia) with soft parts with implications for pterosaurian anatomy and locomotion
• NEW PTEROSAUR SPECIMENS FROM THE KEM KEM BEDS (UPPER CRETACEOUS, CENOMANIAN) OF MOROCCO
• Variation in dinosaur skeletochronology indicators: implications for age assessment and physiology
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Cited by

• Anhangueridae [wikipedia]